Belvidere Scrabble player scores friendship with South African counterpart

BELVIDERE — For the past year, Helen Cormie has been sending pictures and messages to Maria Loftstrand.

They met while playing Scrabble on their iPads and, despite the thousands of miles between them, developed a strong friendship.

Loftstrand lives in Durbin, South Africa. On Friday, she was in Belvidere meeting her 90-year-old friend for the first time.

Loftstrand and her husband, Allen, came to the United States to visit their two children: a daughter who lives in Texas and a son who lives in Missouri. After a brief stop in Branson, the two decided to pop into Illinois for a day or two to visit their American Scrabble friend.

A year ago, Cormie’s grandchildren talked her into buying an iPad. She was reluctant at first, but now she’s on it all the time, granddaughter Cassie Steurer said.

The women trade pictures of their families, occasionally using Skype to catch up on what’s going on. The Lofstrands send pictures of the family of vervet monkeys that likes to sneak into their backyard.

“It’s been a good, good meeting,” Lofstrand said.

Cormie doesn’t think she’ll visit South Africa because of her age, but the Lofstrands plan on coming back to the U.S. to visit again.